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Day: September 20, 2013

Canadian exchanges push to relax private placement rules – by Allison Martell (Reuters U.S. – September 20, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

TORONTO – (Reuters) – Canada’s main stock exchanges are pushing for regulatory changes that could make it easier for retail investors to participate in small financings long deemed too risky for the general public, a move that could help shore up the country’s hard-hit junior mining sector.

John McCoach, president of market operator TMX Group Ltd’s small-cap TSX Venture Exchange, said his organization has asked Canada’s securities regulators to consider allowing a public company’s existing shareholders to participate in private placements.

Private placements are share issues that are offered to select buyers such as institutional investors and wealthy individuals who qualify as “accredited investors,” and not to the general public.

The TSX Venture Exchange, the main trading venue for hundreds of small Canadian-listed mining and energy companies, wants to expand the qualifying group.

Under its proposal, investors who have held stock in the issuer or 60 days or more would qualify to be included in private placements, but their investments would be capped at C$10,000 ($9,800) per company per year.

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EPA sets first-ever curbs on power plant pollution – by Valerie Volcovici (Reuters U.S. – September 20, 2013)

http://www.reuters.com/

WASHINGTON – (Reuters) – The Obama administration on Friday announced first-ever regulations setting strict limits on the amount of carbon pollution that can be generated by any new U.S. power plant, which quickly sparked a backlash from supporters of the coal industry and are certain to face legal challenges.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s long-awaited guidelines would make it near impossible to build coal plants without using technology to capture carbon emissions that foes say is unproven and uneconomic. The rules, a revision of a previous attempt by the EPA to create emissions standards for fossil fuel plants, are the first step in President Barack Obama’s climate change package, announced in June.

The revised rule contained a few surprises after the agency held extensive discussions with industry and environmental groups, raising concerns by industry that the EPA’s new restrictions on existing power plants, due to be unveiled next year, will be tough.

But the regulations announced on Friday cover only new plants. Under the proposal, new large natural gas-fired turbines would need to meet a limit of 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt hour, while new small natural gas-fired turbines would need to meet a limit of 1,100 pounds of CO2 per MWh.

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NEWS RELEASE: Ian Telfer settles with the Ontario Securities Commission

TORONTO – The Ontario Securities Commission today approved a settlement agreement reached between Staff and Ian Telfer, who admitted his conduct fell below the standard expected from someone in his position, particularly given his extensive experience at senior levels in the capital markets industry, and was therefore contrary to the public interest.

Telfer admitted to advising Eda Marie Agueci, who worked for a registrant and was therefore subject to strict rules for monitoring of her communications and personal trading, to use BlackBerry PIN messages instead of email “with very close friends” saying, “Messages don’t go to the [company] server. They go straight to blkberry”. Agueci subsequently used BlackBerry PIN to communicate with others in relation to trading securities.

Telfer acknowledged that it was not proper to advise someone working for a registrant to use BlackBerry PIN where those messages would not be monitored by their employer.

Telfer also admitted to having advised Agueci not to purchase shares of a private share transaction in her name, which resulted in a transaction where the beneficial owner of the shares was not disclosed. The shares were purchased for $5,000 and subsequently sold for approximately $500,000.

Telfer acknowledged that he ought to have known there was a real risk Agueci might have a beneficial interest in those shares that was not monitored by her employer as required, and that, if Agueci’s interest in or trading authority over the shares had been disclosed, her employer’s compliance department would have been able to monitor that trading.

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Ontario Northland should be Ring of Fire railroad – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – September 20, 2013)

Established in 1980, Northern Ontario Business provides Canadians and international investors with relevant, current and insightful editorial content and business news information about Ontario’s vibrant and resource-rich North.

Ring of Fire junior miner, KWG Resources, is refloating the concept of using the Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) to haul ore out of the Ring of Fire in the James Bay region.

In a Sept. 16 news release, the Toronto-based company said it supports the “New Deal” business plan being proposed by the unions at the Crown-operated transportation agency.

According to KWG, a new agency should be established, governed by the First Nations and other regional stakeholders with federal oversight.

This agency would finance the railroad’s construction and continuing operations of the ONR by providing rail service “at cost” to the mining companies operating in the remote Far North camp. KWG is the holder of the only staked corridor out of the region. The company said it will make its right-of-way available for ONR use.

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NEWS RELEASE: Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. Responds to the Ontario Mining and Lands Commissioner Decision

CLEVELAND – September 20, 2013 – Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (Paris: CLF) stated that the decision by the Mining and Lands Commissioner related to its Chromite Project in Ontario, Canada, is disappointing and one that threatens the development of the Ring of Fire mining district. The Company’s proposed north-south all-weather road, which crosses unpatented mining claims of KWG Resources and other resource companies, is essential to the development of the Ring of Fire and a necessary component of Cliffs’ Chromite Project. Cliffs disagrees with the decision and contends that this is not an appropriate use of mining claims under Ontario’s Mining Act. Further, the Company sees no conflict between the legitimate uses of a mining claimholder and the proposed road, which has great benefits for Northern Ontario.

“Without access to the surface lands to develop the needed infrastructure, there is no project. Our proposed development has the scale needed to develop the road access and is therefore a catalyst for other smaller mining opportunities in the Ring of Fire. Cliffs is very disappointed in this decision, but beyond our project, it is clearly an issue for anyone interested in seeing these opportunities in the Ring of Fire becoming realities,” commented Bill Boor, SVP Global Ferroalloys with Cliffs. “While we are open to possible solutions, without a pathway developing quickly to overcome this major setback, it is going to be difficult for us to justify continuing with
the project at this point in time.” 

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South Africa’s raw chrome exports soar as ferrochrome edge is lost – by Martin Creamer (MiningWeekly.com – September 20, 2013)

http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa’s long-standing position as the top global ferrochrome producer is being lost and the export of raw, unbeneficiated chromite ore is on the rise from this country.

Heinz Pariser Alloy Metals and Steel Market Research director Dr Gerhard Pariser, who addressed the MetalBulletin Event’s chromite conference in Johannesburg this week, says that South Africa’s export of ore is rising sharply and its export of ferrochrome is declining.

This is completely counter to South African government policy, which promotes the beneficiation that ferrochrome embodies. “To put it in a very simple way, Africa is supplying and China’s buying,” says Pariser.

The local production of ferrochrome creates five times more value in the South African economy that chrome ore extraction and three times more jobs. For every ton of ferrochrome exported, R9 000 is put into South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) compared with only R1 600 for every ton of ore exported.

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Belarus Leader Hints at Potash Truce – by Lukas I. Alpert (Wall Street Journal – September 19, 2013)

http://online.wsj.com/home-page

Deal Would Involve Returning Executive to Russia for Prosecution

MOSCOW—The president of Belarus hinted for the first time Thursday at a possible resolution in a cross-border fight over potash that has rocked global fertilizer markets, by suggesting he is open to the idea of sending the jailed chief executive of potash miner Uralkali URALL -5.90% back to Russia for prosecution there.

President Alexander Lukashenko’s softened tone comes as people close to the Russian company’s primary owner, Suleiman Kerimov, say the billionaire is in talks with several parties to sell his stake in the company, something the Belarusian government has named as a precondition to any settlement following the collapse of Uralkali’s potash-trading partnership with Belarus.

“There are two options,” Mr. Lukashenko said. “First is a civilized divorce. We are ready for that. If you go, then go, but do not interfere with our work here. We are ready to work on our own.

“The second option would be to continue to work together. For that, the owners must change and new people come in who are interested in producing potash. We are ready to work with them,” the president said.

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UPDATED: Vale fine to go to city [Sudbury] – by Star Staff (Sudbury Star – September 20, 2013)

The Sudbury Star is the City of Greater Sudbury’s daily newspaper.

The more than $1 million Vale Canada was fined for the deaths of two Stobie Mine employees will go to the City of Greater Sudbury, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Labour confirmed Thursday.

Matt Blajer said on top of the $1.050 million fine, Vale has to pony up an additional 25% — or $250,000 — which will be put into a provincial fund for victims of crime. The fine will go into the city’s general revenue stream, city spokesperson Shannon Dowling said.

On Tuesday, Vale pleaded guilty to three charges under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act for the deaths of Jason Chenier, 35, and Jordan Fram, 26. On June 8, 2011, the men were crushed by a 350-ton run of muck at the 3,000-foot level of the mine.

The company was originally facing nine charges, while supervisor Keith Birnie faced six. Joe Cimino, a city councillor who’s also vying for the provincial NDP nomination, called the plea bargain upsetting.

“What’s happened is, now there’s more questions in the community than there are answers,” he said. “This shut a door to a public trial. We need a full inquiry now, not in 10 years. “This is so unfair to the families.”

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Sept. 19, 1992: Labour tensions high as Yellowknife blast kills replacement gold miners – by Chris Zdeb (Edmonton Journal – September 19, 2013)

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/index.html

Nine gold miners were killed in an explosion during a strike at the Giant Gold Mine in Yellowknife in one of the worst mass murders in Canadian history. The replacement workers were riding in a man-car more than 200 metres below the surface when the blast happened about 10:30 a.m. Six victims were from Yellowknife, two from Ontario and one from New Brunswick.

The union vehemently denied any responsibility for the explosion, which was investigated by the RCMP. Still, union officials expected violence in Yellowknife to get worse as more people who blamed the union for the explosion vented their anger. The mine was built in the 1930s and owned by Royal Oak Mines Ltd. It had continued to operate through the strike with replacement workers.

About 240 members of the Canadian Association of Smelter and Allied Workers walked off the job on May 23 in response to the company asking workers to take wage and benefit cuts and to tie any new contract to the price of gold, because of declining gold prices.

Workers wanted better pension benefits, improved safety standards and a five- to 10-per-cent wage increase.

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Iran to invest over 8 billion euros in aluminium sector – by Emma Farge (Reuters India – September 20, 2013)

http://in.reuters.com/

GENEVA – (Reuters) – Iran plans to invest around 8.5 billion euros ($11.4 billion) in its aluminium industry as part of plans to nearly quadruple production by 2025, an official at mining group Imidro said on Thursday.

Iran is the 20th largest producer of aluminium in the world, according to the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organisation (Imidro), and needs the extra supplies to meet demand which is growing by 10 percent a year.

Aluminium is a lightweight metal used widely in transport, packaging and construction. It can also be used to make tubes for uranium enrichment gas centrifuges.

Iran’s economy has been hobbled by western sanctions aimed at pressuring Tehran to stop efforts to enrich uranium to levels that could be used in weapons.

Iran produced 338,000 tonnes of aluminium last year and is aiming for 770,000 tonnes in 2016 and 1.5 million tonnes by 2025, Panthea Geramishoar, senior expert in Imidro’s non-ferrous department said at a Metal Bulletin conference in Geneva.

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Afghanistan’s plan to jumpstart economy with Chinese mining investment under threat – by Lynne O’Donnell (South China Morning Post – September 20, 2013)

http://www.scmp.com/news/asia

Plan to base country’s future growth on mining may have struck a dead-end as China moves to renegotiate multi billion-dollar deal

Kabul – Afghanistan’s dream of using profits from its vast mineral resources to fund post-war development is fading after China signalled its intention to undo a multi billion-dollar agreement that had been underpinning Kabul’s plans for creating a mining industry.

Fifteen months before the international presence in Afghanistan is reduced, Kabul may have to scale back plans for attracting mining companies to exploit its mineral reserves, including copper, gold, iron ore and rare earths, worth US$1 trillion.

A combination of related factors are working against Afghanistan. As the commodities cycle turns, prices drop, mining firms scale back on new projects, and China’s economy slows, experts said that Afghanistan appears to have missed out on the resources boom for now.

And the country has yet to pass its new Mining Law, which some say could be delayed further by concerns about such issues as community compensation and environment protection, industry sources said. Ministry officials, however, are confident it will pass within weeks.

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Hollywood vs. oil sands? Not a fair fight – by Gary Mason (Globe and Mail – September 20, 2013)

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

Calgary — Once again, Alberta’s oil sands have become a whipping boy for the rich and famous.

Actor Robert Redford is the latest in a recent procession of actors and celebrities to voice opposition to the province’s petroleum patch. In a short but powerful video released this week, Mr. Redford calls northern Alberta’s “the dirtiest oil on the planet” and casts the development in the most unflattering light imaginable, saying “toxic tar sands fuel” is helping to destroy the planet.

The week before, singer Neil Young gave a speech in Washington that garnered international attention, comparing the sight of the oil sands to Hiroshima after it was annihilated by an atomic bomb. The singer did an air tour of the controversial resource development with one-time Hollywood starlet Daryl Hannah, better known these days for her political crusades than her movies.

Canadian-born director James Cameron is also among those who have visited the area. He has urged Alberta politicians to do more to protect First Nations lands from the titanic levels of pollution and destruction he said are caused by the oil sands.

Not surprisingly, many in Alberta are sensitive to the attacks by the entertainment crowd, whose regular treks to the oil sands have been dubbed “Hollywood eco-tourism.”

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Jim Flaherty: Ottawa, B.C. and Ontario agree to establish co-operative securities regulator – by Gordon Isfeld and Barbara Shecter (National Post – September 20, 2013)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

OTTAWA/TORONTO – When Jim Flaherty first envisioned a single national securities regulator, he couldn’t have imagined that seven years on, it would still be very much a work in progress.

Even now, there appears to be a lot of work left to do. Regional concerns over federal oversight — and constitutional issues —have so far hamstrung efforts by the finance minister to create a Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Securities Commission.

So instead, Mr. Flaherty, acknowledging he won’t get an iron-clad agreement from all the provinces and territories in the near future, is going with what he’s got: two provinces, albeit significant players in the capital markets, agreeing to sign on to a voluntary, cooperative arrangement.

And he’s hoping most of the 13 separate securities agencies will join up as well. Mr. Flaherty, joined by his Ontario and B.C. counterparts, announced Thursday the creation of the Cooperative Capital Markets Regulators (CCMR), as it will be called. It will be based in Toronto — the financial hub of Canada — and take responsibility for overseeing common national rules.

“It isn’t a federal regulator, it isn’t a provincial regulator, it’s a common regulator, a cooperative regulator, which will share powers [between] borders and government.

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Ontario’s power disaster – by Terence Corcoran (National Post – September 20, 2013)

The National Post is Canada’s second largest national paper.

New study highlights desperate need for reform the province’s vast dysfunctional and costly electricity regime

For almost five years FP Comment has inveighed against the Ontario government’s profoundly uneconomic and costly electricity regime, a dictatorial and monopolist system that uses taxes and subsidies to greenify the power system of the largest provincial economy in Canada.

As I wrote in 2009: “In the midst of a major economic meltdown, and with looming budget deficits totaling more than $18-billion, now might not be the best time for the government of Ontario to be embarking on a crushing new green energy policy that could add billions to the province’s electricity costs. But Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty is nothing if not immune to the folly of his own righteous policies and the fiscal crisis he faces as a result.”

Since then, via former Canadian banker Parker Gallant’s ongoing series — Ontario’s Power Trip — along with reports from consultant Tom Adams and many others, the growing absurdity of the regime has been detailed and documented on this page: Rising costs, market distorting feed-in-tariffs, subsidies to wind and solar, exports of power to New York at below cost — not to mention the $1-billion scandal over cancelled gas plants.

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Vale mine death plea disappoints union – by CBC News Sudbury (September 19, 2013)

http://www.cbc.ca/sudbury/

The union that represents workers at Vale says a $1-million fine and guilty plea related to the 2011 deaths of two of its miners aren’t enough.

The nickel miner’s plea agreement was the largest fine ever levied under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act. Vale pleaded guilty to three charges, but six other charges were dropped.

“[The fine] will not have an impact,” said Mike Bond, chair of the health, safety and environment for Steelworkers Local 6500. The union conducted its own eight-month investigation into the tragedy, and Bond maintains the company should have faced criminal charges.

“We need support from the enforcement bodies that are there to protect and hand out penalties and discipline,” he said. The plea agreement means the case will not go to trail, and Bond said Vale won’t have to answer questions about what happened.

“In our views, the facts will never be on the books,” he said. Sudbury Police investigated the deaths of Jason Chenier and Jordan Fram, but announced last year that no criminal charges would be laid.

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